Commentary: Campus Center Ice Cream Machine should be better maintained
Tyler McNeil
Creative Editor
Free ice cream is great, but not when it comes from a machine that is filled with the remnants of perishable food.
The ice cream machine known as the “Ice Cream Center” on the second floor of the campus center needs to be checked once a day and cleaned thoroughly
On Dec. 10, members of the Hudsonian came back to the campus center after the holiday banquet. I decided to purchase an ice cream bar and got three for the price of one. The initial excitement was immediately replaced by opening the flap to retrieve the sandwiches and seeing spoiled ice cream.
Upon further inspection, flies were seen through the window of the machine.
The crinkled packaging was surrounded by a pool of its own interior body like a lactose crime scene. After closing the door, the last remaining trace of rotten milk dissipated into the air.
The following Monday morning, I uncovered not only the same ice cream sandwich from three days prior pasted to the basket but also another ice cream sandwich. An oreo bar was also seen trapped between the lid of the freezer, allowing cold air to escape. Fortunately, the machine was labelled as “out of order” but the mess was negligently taken care of.
Over a month later, remnants of the melted ice cream bar remain frozen in time. That’s the only type of “frozen” I am not particularly enchanted by when it comes to ice cream. When maintenance from repair
Using this particular vending machine is like taking a stroll through Hudson Valley history. As many of the vending machines were upgraded before the start of the fall 2014 semester, this archaic device was preserved. The Faculty Student Association only collects 10 percent of the commision for the machine from the Gillette Creamery whereas they collect 20 percent commision from Prestige Vending Company.
The ice cream vending machine has been proven to be a highly glitchy dispensary device on campus. While vending machines around campus are devouring dollars, the ice cream vending machine will occasionally give away two or three ice cream snacks for $1.
Of course, while waiting for several frozen dairy products through the window, there might be a dairy snacks under the mechanical cabinet door blocking on the top of the cabinet. Possibly a permanent repair or replacement of this device could lead more snacks to reach their proper destination and less melted ice cream snacks.
When visitors tour the Campus Center, being greeted by ice cream sets a negative tone for the overall upkeep of the heart of student life, the Siek Campus Center.
It is in the best interest of Hudson Valley Community College to check on the vending machine and clean the bottom drawer at least once a day. Negligence for the vending machine, located across from the Center for Counseling and Transfer, has reached its expiration date.